For the people of his generation, he was a larger than life character. He was known for his business acumen and outspokenness, but also as an unintentional instigator of the movement to preserve the heritage of Potchefstroom. He is Jurie Schoeman.
This photo of Jurie Schoeman appeared in the Potchefstroom Herald when he stood as a candidate for the municipal elections. He was 57 years old at the time.
During the 1970s the residents of Potchefstroom were made aware of the vanishing heritage of the town. In 1979 the former parsonage of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, that stood on the south-western corner of Potgieter (Nelson Mandela) and Greyling (OR Tambo) Streets, was demolished to make way for the widening of Potgieter Street to become a four lane motorway.
The former parsonage of the Hervormde Church Potchefstroom stood in the way of the new four-lane road and was subsequently demolished.
In 1951 Jurie bought the farm Elandsheuwel from the Grimbeek family, the farm on which the famous Grimbeek family settled after they came to Potchefstroom during the 1850s. The first Grimbeek ancestor to live there built a house, which still stood in the 1970s. Due to its age and the role it played in the family and the town’s history, conservationists were of the opinion that this house should be preserved.
Jurie decided that he was not going to be pushed around to restore the house and subsequently very quickly had it demolished.
According to his son, Rob, there were three houses on the farm. The oldest one, discussed above, was built in 1852. Another one, dating from 1857, was also demolished. The date plate that was above the front door was saved by Rob and his wife, Lynn, and is still in their possession.
Rob said that both houses were in a state of disrepair. The oldest part of the first house was built from clay. Rooms, built with bricks, were later haphazardly added, making a restoration project very difficult. The 1852 house also stood in the way of a canal, which also prompted the decision to demolish it.
Jurie Schoeman had donated some of the building material to the Potchefstroom Museum. According to Mr Johan Wolfaardt of the Museum some of these were utilized when the President Pretorius Museum was restored. This includes the front door and the slate of both the front and back stoep of the museum.
The nameplate that was rescued when the house second oldest house on Elandsheuwel was demolished.
The front door of the President Pretorius Museum and the slate on the stoep in front and at the back of the Museum was donated by Jurie Schoeman after he had the original Grimbeek farmhouse demolished.
Owner of a service station at 19
Rob Schoeman, Jurie’s son, remembers this and many other stories involving his father.
Jurie Arthur Schoeman was born in 1909. He hailed from the well-known Schoeman family of Potchefstroom. About the time of the Anglo-Boer War two Schoeman brothers decided to go in separate ways as far as their political views were concerned. Jurie’s ancestor had the nickname of “To be sure” and was a Sap (member of the South African Party), supporting General Jan Smuts.
According to Jurie’s obituary, however, he was born in Dingle in the Cape Province and moved to Potchefstroom towards the end of the First World War (1914-1918). When he stood as a candidate for Ward 6 in the municipal elections in 1967, he stated that he then was a resident of Potchefstroom for 50 years. He matriculated from the Potchefstroom High School for Boys, where both his sons Rob and Arthur also completed their schooling.
This photo of a youthful Jurie Schoeman is still in his son Rob’s possession. (Photo restored by Lenomedia.)
Jurie married Lassie Peggy Knoles in Kokstad on the 29th September 1939. Apart from Arthur (born in 1942) and Rob (born in 1948) they also had a sister, Jane, who was born in 1940.
By the age of 19 Jurie already owned a service station. This stood on the south-eastern corner of Lombard (James Moroka) and Rivier Streets. Rob remembers living with his family above the service station and also that he used to throw balloons filled with water from his bedroom window on the cars parked to have their tanks filled with petrol!
The service station on the south-eastern corner of Rivier and Lombard (James Moroka) Street. It was from the balcony of this building, where the Schoeman family resided, that Rob dropped water bombs on the unsuspecting customers of his father. Note the fence that was erected to heighten the railing of the balcony, probably installed to prevent this from happening! Photo: Rob Schoeman
The business was initially known as Schoeman’s Garage, but was changed to Jurie’s Service Station in 1939.
A company called Jurie’s Trekkers en Implemente (Edms) Bpk took over the business of Jurie’s Service station in 1946. Jurie held the dealership for Massey Ferguson tractors and implements for many years and became the largest dealership for this company in the country.
Jurie Schoeman demonstrating a Massey-Ferguson tractor and plough. Photo: Rob Schoeman
To accommodate his expanding business a building was erected just south of the service station. According to Rob, this was done without his “old man” submitting plans to the town council. After its completion a municipal employee arrived and declared that the roof was going to fall in and that the building should be demolished.
To demonstrate the safety of the structure, Jurie had a tractor hoisted to the steel girders of the so-called unsafe building and lay down beneath the tractor! The roof held, the building was not demolished and served the company for many years.
This combined photo shows the building behind the service station that was erected for the tractor dealership. Photo: Rob Schoeman
Jurie Schoeman bought his first business stand in Potchefstroom in 1937.
Gradually he acquired more land next to the service station and dealership. East of his property, where the Bosch agency is now was the residence of the Diamond family. Later there was a putt putt course and also a roadhouse. This was acquired with the property just south of it. These two properties bordered on an extension of Meadows Street, now engulfed by Govan Mbeki Drive (formerly Mooirivier Drive), but what was then a quiet corner of Potchefstroom.
An old reservoir was converted into a swimming pool and in 1956 Jurie built a stone house with a thatched roof for his family. Rob remembered that the family moved in when only two rooms were completed. Cooking took place on a stove under the pergola.
The house was surrounded by hundreds of rose bushes and in 1975 the reception for Rob and Lynn Pearl’s wedding was in the garden.
The house built from stone that stood where the Riverwalk Shopping Centre is now. Photo: Rob Schoeman
When the first snowfall recorded in Potchefstroom since 1909 fell in August 1962, it prompted photographer Alf Curado to take this picture of the Schoeman residence. It appeared on the front page of The Potchefstroom News on 31 August 1962.
Wide-spread businesses
Jurie’s horizons were far bigger than Potchefstroom. His obituary in the Potchefstroom Herald of 23 November 1982 stated: “He had an adventurous disposition and when aged 16 was one of those who took part in a ‘diamond run’ at Lichtenburg in the Western Transvaal, where he staked mining claims which he later sold for £150.”
By 1946 he owned a farm in Eastern Transvaal and over the years had business concerns in Ventersdorp, Lichtenburg, Zeerust, Rustenburg and Brits.
One time he also managed a diamond mine in the Northern Cape and at the time of his death he still owned a farm in the Douglas district.
After selling a farm in the Ventersdorp district, he bought the farm Elandsheuwel in 1951. Initially the main income from the farm was derived from the sale of livestock, but in 1969 the position changed to one of grain farming.
Nancy the red hartebeest
Rob recalls that his father, about 1962, came home with a red hartebeest. The family named her Nancy and she was fed with a bottle. “We had bull-fighting on the lawn with a towel,” he remembers with a chuckle. Nancy ran around with the 15 to 20 dogs the family had. His father later had the orchard fenced in and kept her there, later joined by a springbuck.
Another clash with the authorities ensued when he was fined two rand for keeping wild animals in town. The fine was suspended for five years. The red hartebeest and springbuck were relocated to Elandsheuwel and a mate was found for Nancy. They often visited Nancy bringing her apples and peaches. Nancy would stick her head through the car window and Jurie sometimes offered her a cigarette, which she would chomp down. Sadly Nancy and her mate met an untimely death when they were attacked by a pack of wild dogs. They got mangled in barbed wire and had to be put down by a veterinarian.
The farm was sold in 1979.
Life-long golfer
Life was definitely not all work and no play for Jurie Schoeman. He was a keen golfer. When Jay Rottenburg penned his golfing memories of Potchefstroom in 1961 he wrote:
Bernie Lawrie, Wilfred Lawrie and Jurie Schoeman started golf one morning at 4 o’clock and they finished no fewer than six rounds of golf that day – 108 holes by 7 pm.
At the time Jurie was the club captain and Jay signed Jurie’s copy of the book: “To Jurie: What a contributor and what a character!”
Jurie’s obituary stated that he was an honorary president of the Potchefstroom Country Club’s, an office he still held at the time of his death. He was also an honorary member and chairman for a continuous period of four years. “He was proud of having been captain of the golf section and club singles champion in 1939 and 1946.”
The obituary also noted that he was an amateur boxer: “One of his bouts took place on the mail ship in which he travelled to England in 1935. He learned to fly with the local flying club before the Second World War and became the first member to solo in August 1936.”
He was also a keen ballroom dancer.
He was a member of the Potchefstroom town council from 1962 to 1967.
First shopping mall in the Western Transvaal
By 1963 Jurie bought a property adjacent to his in Rivier Street for R1500. Rob remembers that the owner was an old lady who was known as “Tannie Hangpram Swart”. She acquired this nickname – and Rob is very certain about this – because her breasts hung to her knees!
According to Rob, the well-known car dealer from the 1980s and 1990s, At Jacobs (see my article: https://lenniegouws.co.za/the-early-history-of-car-dealers-in-potchefstroom/ ) started his dealership, Elcon Motors, in a property on the corner of Rivier and Meadow Streets and later moved to the property formerly owned by Mrs Swart in Rivier Street.
The Schoeman siblings, Rob, his brother Arthur and their sister Jane and her husband Tony Mason came upon the idea to build the first shopping centre in the Western Transvaal on the properties bordering on Meadows, Rivier and Lombard (James Moroka) Streets. This business venture had the support of their father.
With two anchor tenants, Checkers and SterKinekor, the deal hit a hiccup with funding, when one bank thought that Rob was a credit risk. A loan at another bank for R2,5 million was secured within three weeks.
The family lived in the stone house until October 1978, but in a record time of nine months the 8 000 m2 building was completed. The Checkers Centre opened its doors on 25 October 1979 as the first of its kind in the Western Transvaal. The total building costs amounted to R2,8 million.
The architect’s depiction of the Checkers Centre. It appeared in Wapad on 22 June 1977.
Apart from Checkers and Ster Kinekor, the 22 other shops included a sports shop, ladies boutique, sewing machine shop, jeweller, estate agent, shoe shop, restaurant, book shop, gift shop and dry cleaner.
To honour the Schoeman family, the town council decided to name a new street connecting Meadow and Rivier Street south of the Checkers Centre as Jurie Schoeman Street.
In 1994, when the Checkers Centre was sold to the Wooltru Group and they extended the centre to become the River Walk Shopping Centre, this street was closed.
After the demise of Jurie Schoeman Street to make way for the bigger River Walk Shopping Centre, Rob Schoeman saved this street name plate and it now has pride of place in his garden.
When Jurie passed away in 1982 his ashes were buried on the corner of Lombard (James Moroka) Street and Mooirivier Drive (Govan Mbeki). Accompanying an article in the Herald in 2012 a photo depicting two memorial stones which still existed at the time, one for Jurie and another for his granddaughter, Kay Mason, whose ashes were buried next to Jurie’s in 1988. The memorial stones has since disappeared.
Jurie Schoeman’s legacy in Potchefstroom is far larger than the infamous demolishing of a historical building. His obituary stated that he lived a full life and enjoyed it to the full. “He was an outspoken man and known for his forthrightness. His like will not be seen again.”
